Blog about work and fun

Difference between long run pace and marathon pace

What should be the difference between your long run pace and your marathon pace? There is no simple answer . It all depends on your athletic ability.

When I was preparing for my first marathon, my long run pace was about 8:20/mile and the goal marathon pace was 8:00/mile. The difference was not very big there. At this point it was not about aerobic capacity, but about leg strength. For the first time I needed to hit pavement 40K+ times in rapid succession. I could have probably do all my runs with MP and will be OK.

Now my long run pace is 7:40 on average (varies from 8:00 to 7:20), which is not so far away from 3 years ago. But the target marathon pace is 6:50. And this is completely different effort. Now I’m looking at the long run for this weekend (16 miles total, 12 miles marathon pace) and preparing for a lot Type-2 fun.